THE state government will investigate a claim that some foreigners under the Malaysia My Second Home scheme in Kedah had bought Malay reserve land in Langkawi to build houses.

Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azizan Abdul Razak said the state was aware that foreigners had bought houses under the scheme but did not know that they had bought land for the purpose.

He said this in reply to Mohd Rawi Abd Hamid (BN-Ayer Hangat) who had asked whether the state government was aware that 50 foreigners had bought land in Langkawi and built bungalows.

Mohd Rawi revealed that the foreigners had built bungalows in Ulu Melaka, Kedawang and Air Hangat for homestay business ventures.

He asked the state government to investigate the matter as foreigners were only allowed to buy houses under the scheme.

Azizan said the state only knew that the foreigners bought apartments in Kuah as the state had turned down several requests from them to buy land on the island under the scheme and also for business purposes.

“If they want to lease the land, we will allow them to do so. However, if the foreigners use Ali Baba tactics to buy land to build their houses, it will be difficult to trace or overcome such problems,” he said.